Morecambe cheerleaders flying high for global award

Gemma Sherlock

A Morecambe cheerleading club are storming to victory after securing a place to compete in the World Championships.

Morecambe Bay Stormers will travel to America next year to compete in the global cheerleading awards.

Morecambe Bay Stormers, Twisters, cheerleaders.

The squad have gone from strength to strength, explains head coach Faye Winder.

“This is a tremendous achievement,” said Faye.

“We are trying to change the publics preconception of ‘all-star cheer’ – it can be a highly dangerous sport if not performed correctly as members get thrown into the air performing twists and flips before being caught by their team members.

“It is far from the pom-pom waving ‘side-line cheer’ people sometime believe it is!”

The global opportunity comes after two teams in the squad won national titles last month.

The Junior Level 2 team, known as the Bay Stormers Twisters, won the national title at the British Cheerleading Association National Championships in Telford.

The team of 9-15-year-olds won their category with a performance against highly rated competition.

The squads most advanced team, the Storm Queens, competed at the Scotcheer National Championships in Glasgow and won the All Girl Level 5 Cheerleading national title.

The accolade earned the Storm Queens a place to attend the World Cheerleading Championships 2018 in Orlando, Florida next April, competing against 50 other elite teams from across the globe.

Faye has been with the team every step of the way, despite going into labour seven weeks early in February, she still made sure she was there to cheer them on, along with other coaches, Lauren Potter and Maisie McCorriston.

The squad will now be fundraising to secure funds for the trip.

The trip will cost each athlete around £1500 making the cost of the trip in excess of £20,000.